Students - Sitting with 3rd grade students and brainstorming ideas is quite an experience. Sometimes the outcome is unexpected. Mostly, I like to sit back and listen to their conversation because they often look at me like I have the right answer. I don't like for them to think that their contribution is on the wrong path. I want them to know that there is more than one way to do something.
Teachers - I have had many experiences with collaboration, some good and some bad. As I have been reading I have now been able to distinguish between the two types of collaboration. It's not that the experience was bad, it was just that the collaboration really wasn't there. It was more of getting handed a worksheet and being told this is what we are doing. If you want you can join us. If felt flat, forced, and an experience I would rather not repeat. On the good side, collaboration has been the coming together of several minds into one. It's words, feelings, thoughts being tossed around until a final product appears. Those that know me well know to expect a midnight text with a brainstorm that comes out of nowhere and cannot wait to share.
Admin - To date, I have not had any experiences collaborating with administration.
Brandi
Students-When students come with their teachers to the library to do a lesson, you can see on their faces the dread of work. As I use some for of technology and hook them you see the crowd lighten up. I use my knowledge to create a fun game or an activity done on the smart board so that I have crowd participation. It's great when you see students "get it" and more over it's great when they forget they are learning. I know that I am helping when I have students leave excited about what they came to do in the library, when they come back and share information with me that shows a connection between what we taught and what they do, and last is when they are using what we taught and I just surprise them in their classroom and they are still using it. I have watched students be surprised that the teacher and I seem in sync and you see they wonder how we do that...and it is almost a look of then thinking that all adults are that way. When you have two teachers in there walking around the students questions are being answered quickly, and they rely less on a friend's answer that may not be the idea way that you want to teach it.
Teachers-Collaboration with teachers has been for the most part successful. Most times a teacher will come to me with an idea or suggestion and we sit down and figure out how to make it better. I have requested from the team leaders that they email a copy of their weekly team meeting notes so that I can see what the grade level is doing. This helps me by having books ready for the teachers or out for the students, but more it helps me to go to the teachers with ideas for projects. When it comes to collaborating with any teacher I have a method to my madness. I first start with do they want this collaboration to happen in the library, computer lab, or classroom. Next I move onto is the class already studying, start studying, or wrapping up this unit, this tells me where my focus needs to be. Then the teacher and I sit down and work out seperation of duties and support. I worked with the 4th grade team and made science webquests for their studetns, to start the project off we working in the library talking about where we get information, next we moved to the computer lab so that everyone could get some experience using the computer for webquest, and as follow up I went into the classrooms to help as the kids had questions or wanted to extend the learning.
Admin-Collaboration with my administrators usually works out like this, I think of a brillant plan on I can use them to promote something school wide and volunteer them for it without really asking for them. My adminastors have been awesome about doing this, last year my principal read in his pajamas, we duct taped him to a wall, he is dressing up as a pirate, and pretty much anything else I ask of him. My principal tells me I'm the heart of the school, I know what is going on in the school at all times.
Personal Reflection/Experiences on Collaboration
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